Method of fabricating shirt cuffs

ABSTRACT

A series of shirt cuff pattern parts are placed in spaced apart relationship on a web of lining material and a conveyor belt engages the upper surfaces of the web of lining material and the pattern parts and holds the layers of material together as they are moved through a folder and a sewing machine. An overlying side edge of each of the pattern parts is folded down about an edge of the web of lining material, and the sewing machine sews through the folds. The connected together series of partially completed shirt cuffs is continuously accumulated from the sewing machine on a reel, and the reel is subsequently moved to another work station where the connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs is fed to a cutter on a demand basis. The web of lining material is cut adjacent the trailing edge of the leading pattern part, and when an operator removes the separated partially completed shirt cuff from the connected series for further processing, the feeding and cutting steps are repeated.

United States Patent [191 Ellington et a1.

[ Aug. 26, 1975 METHOD OF FABRICATING SHIRT CUFFS [73] Assignee: Oxford Industries, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.

[22] Filed: Nov. 6, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 521,297

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 485,722, July 3,

Primary ExaminerGe0. V. Larkin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-.lones, Thomas & Askew 5 7 ABSTRACT A series of shirt cuff pattern parts are placed in spaced apart relationship on a web of lining material and a conveyor belt engages the upper surfaces of the web of lining material and the pattern parts and holds the layers of material together as they are moved through a folder and a sewing machine. An overlying side edge of each of the pattern parts is folded down about an edge of the web of lining material, and the sewing ma chine sews through the folds. The connected together series of partially completed shirt cuffs is continuously accumulated from the sewing machine on a reel, and the reel is subsequently moved to another work station where the connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs is fed to a cutter on a demand basis. The

web of lining material is cut adjacent the trailing edge of the leading pattern part, and when an operator removes the scparated partially completed shirt cuff from the connected series for further processing, the feeding and cutting steps are repeated.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures METHOD OF FABRICATING SHIRT CUFFS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 485,722, filed Jul. 3, 1974.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The process of making shirt sleeve cuffs in the past has required a plurality of difficult alignment and sewing steps and has required skilled machine operators because of the multiple number of plies of outer cuff pattern parts and inner lining pattern parts required to form the cuff, and because the pattern parts are small and are easily misplaced. For example, a typical cuff making process required both the outer cuff panels and inner lining panel to be cut in the cutting room by die cutting or clicking and the outer panels and liner panel were tagged in the cutting room and then transferred to the sewing stations in the sewing room. At the first sewing station an operator aligned the inner linear panel with a first cuff panel, folded the overlying edge of the cuff panel over an edge of the liner panel, and sewed through the fold to form a hem or Brighton roll in the cuff panel about the edge of the liner panel. The plurality of partially completed cuffs formed in this manner were connected in series by a chain stitch extending between adjacent ones of the partially completed cuffs and the partially completed cuffs were accumulated at the first sewing station.

After a bunch of outer cuff panels had been passed through the first sewing station to form a bunch of partially completed shirt cuffs, the bunch was transferred to a second sewing station where the second outer cuff panel was aligned in overlying relationship with the first cuff panel and folded about the hem of the first cuff panel, and the Operator then stitched in a U-shaped path about an end of the fold and around the unstitched edges of the inner liner and cuff panels and over the other end of the fold to complete the cuff. The cuffs were again connected together by chain stitching as they left the sewing station, and when the batch of cuffs had passed through the second sewing station they were transferred to a subsequent work station where the cuffs were separated, everted, pressed, and stacked.

The old procedure required not only the cuff panels but the liner to be cut to shape in the cutting room so that a substantial amount of liner material as well as cuff panel material was wasted. Also, the slow pro cesses of aligning the edges of cuff panels and liner panels were required at both the first and second sewing stations, and the sequence of the outer panels had to be maintained at both the first and second sewing stations so that one or both operators would not incorrectly match cuff panels in a cuff structure from different bunches of material or from different layers in a bunch and form cuff structures having mismatched colors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly described, the present invention comprises. a process of forming shirt cuffs or the like wherein a continuous web of cuff lining material moves along a path at a first work station through a sewing machine, and precut cuff pattern parts from a bunch of pattern parts are placed in spaced apart relationship on the web with each cuff pattern part having an edge portion overlying an edge of the lining material. Conveyor belts move into contact with the lining material and pattern parts and hold them together as the belts move the pattern parts and web through a folder and the sewing machine. The overlying portion of each pattern part is folded about and under the edge of the web of lining material, and the folded portion of each pattern part and the web of the lining material are sewn together by the sewing machine. As the connected together series of partially formed shirt cuffs leave the sewing machine, they are continuously accumulated on a take up reel until the entire bunch of pattern parts has been sewn to the web of lining material, whereupon the web of lining material is cut and the reel is transferred to a second work station. The connected series of partially completed cuff pattern parts is fed from its accumulation on the reel at the second work station through a detector and a cutter on a demand basis. The detector determines when the trailing edge of a cuff panel pattern part moves across a predetermined point toward the cutter, and in response to this detection, the movement of the pattern part is interrupted and a disc cutter rolls across the web of lining material adjacent the trailing edge of the pattern part to separate the partially completed cuff from the series. The now separated par tially completed cuff remains at the cutter until it is removed by a worker for further processing, and the movement of the connected series of partially completed cuffs through the cutter does not resume until the previously separated cuff has been removed by the worker. The worker places a second cuff panel from a bunch of pattern parts on the partially completed cuff and feeds the assembled cuff to a sewing and trimming machine which automatically trims the pattern parts and lining material to the proper shape and sews in a U-shaped path about the edges of the plies of material to complete the cuff. The completed cuff is subsequently everted, pressed and attached to the sleeve of a shirt.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a continuous process for fabricating shirt cuffs or the like that requires a relatively unskilled operator and which functions rapidly and accurately to properly form partially completed shirt cuffs.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the process of forming shirt cuffs.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective illustration of the folding and sewing apparatus used at the first work station.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective illustration of the cutting apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now in more detail to the drawing, in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the views, FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the process of forming shirt cuffs wherein a web 10 of lining material is taken from a supply such as reel 11 and moved through a path in the direction as indicated by arrow 12 at a first work station. A bunch 14 of shirt cuff pattern parts or panels is placed adjacent the path traveled by web 10, and a worker takes the top ply or pattern part 15 from the bunch 14 and places it on the moving web 10. Each pattern part 15 is placed in spaced apart relationship with respect to each preceding pattern part so that the web of lining material is exposed between adjacent ones of the pattern parts. Each pattern part 15 is wider than the web and one edge 16 of each pattern part is placed in alignment with edge 17 of the web 10, and the other edge 18 of the pattern part overlies the edge 19 of the web. As the web 10 and pattern parts move along the path toward a sewing machine 20, the overlying edge of the pattern part is folded down and about the edge 19 of the web to form a hem about the edge 19 of the web, and the sewing machine 20 sews through the hem. The sewing machine thus forms a connected series 21 of partially completed shirt cuffs, and the series of partially completed shirt cuffs are accumulated at 22 on a reel.

The accumulation of the connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs is transferred from the first work station to a second work station, and the series of partially completed cuffs are paid out from the accumulation along a second path 24 on a demand basis, where the leading partially completed cuff 25 is cut from the series. A worker retrieves the separated partially completed shirt cuff 25 and matches another cuff pattern part or panel 26 taken from a bunch 27 with the assembly, and the assembled shirt cuff is placed in an automatic trimming and sewing machine 28 which grasps the assembly and sews and trims the shirt cuff. The automatic trimming and sewing machine 28 is not a part of this invention.

As is illustrated in FIG. 2, the first work station includes a work table 31 having a supply reel support 32 attached thereto at one end, and a guide means such as a pair of web guide plates 34 adjustably attached to the work table to guide the web 10 from its supply 11 through a predetermined path across the work table as indicated by arrow 12. A second guide means or abutment plate 35 is mounted on work table 31. Abutment plate 35 as well as guide plates 34 each include a hori zontal portion adjustably attached to the upper surface of the work table and a vertical portion. Plates 34 are spaced apart a distance sufficient to accommodate the width of web 10, and abutment plate 35 is located so that its vertical portion is in alignment with the edge 17 of web 10. The cuff pattern parts 15 are taken from bunch 14 by a worker and placed on web 10 with one edge 16 in abutment with the abutment plate 35, which aligns the edge 16 of each pattern part 15 with the edge 17 of the web 10, and causes the opposite edge 18 of the cuff pattern part 15 to overlie the opposite edge 19 of the web 10.

A pair of endless conveyor belts 38 move about sewing machine 20, as guided by rollers 39, and 41. The rollers 39 and 40 are positioned above the path to be traveled by web 10, and roller 41 is positioned above the sewing machine 20 so that the return flights of the conveyor belts extend over the sewing machine. The lower driving flights 42 of the conveyor belts 38 engage the upper surfaces of the cuff pattern parts 15 and the web 10 and urge the layers of material through folder 44 and sewing machine 20. In actual practice, another pair of conveyor belts (not shown) aids in moving the web 10 and pattern parts 15 along their path, and these belts are moved from beneath the work table up into a sandwich relationship with respect to the upper conveyor belts 38 and web 10 and pattern parts 15 and travel at the same speed as conveyor belts 38 fromthe position of first roller 39 to the position of second roller 40, and the lower conveyor belts then move in a downward return flight below the surface of work table 31.

The shirt cuff pattern parts 15 and web 1&1 move through folder 44 and sewing machine 2ft with the belts 38 and lower belts (not shown) positively controlling the speed and direction of movement of the plies of material, and a continuous stitch 45 is formed by sewing machine 20 through the layers of material at the fold, so that the folded-over portion of each shirt cuff pattern part is sewn closed about an edge of the web 16, and a connected series 21 of shirt cuffs is formed. The connected series of shirt cuffs 21 are moved by the conveyor belt beyond sewing machine 20 until the conveyor belts move upwardly away from the connected series of shirt cuffs, whereupon take-up reel 46 accumulates the series. Take-up reel 46 is supported by reel supports 48, and the reel 46 is driven through a belt drive system 49 from the same power source used to drive the conveyor belts 38 and sewing machine 211. The accumulation 22 of the series of partially completed shirt cuff assemblies on reel 46 is subsequently transferred to the second work station illustrated in FIG. 3, usually after the entire bunch 14 of cuff pattern parts has been connected in the series on the web 16.

At the second work station the accumulation of the connected series of shirt cuff pattern parts 21 is fed from reel 46 to cutter-indexer 511 on a demand basis. A pair of reel support bars 51 are attached to work table 52 to support reel 46, and the free end of the connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs is paid out from reel 46 in an upward direction and across work table 52 along a predetermined path as set by guides 54. When the connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs moves across work table 52, the continuous web of lining material 10 is located below the series shirt cuff panels 15. Separator plate 55 is attached to the surface of work table 52 along one of its edges 56, and its opposite edge 58 is supported in cantilever arrangement over the path 57 traveled by web 10. The edge 59 of the separator plate 55 which is located adjacent the guides 54 is bent down slightly so as to make positive contact with the web 10 as the web moves beneath the separator plate. The leading ends of each of the shirt cuff pattern parts attached to web 10 are thus inclined to be flipped or plowed in an upward direction so that the shirt cuff panels travel over the upper surface of separator plate 55.

Clutch-brake motor 60 is located beneath work table 52 and functions to rotate drive roller 61. Drive roller 61 is spring urged (not shown) in an upward direction against the bottom surface of separator plate 55, so that web 10, positioned in the path of the second work station below separator plate 55, is grasped between drive roller 61 and separator plate 55. When motor 60 functions to rotate drive roller 61 in the direction indicated by arrow 62, the web 10 is fed from reel 41-6 toward cutter 64.

Cutter 64 comprises a pair of stationary end supports 71 and 72, a pair of guide rods 74 and 75 connected at their ends to supports 71 and 72, movable cutter support 76, disc cutter 78, and pneumatic ram 79. Pneumatic ram 79 is supported by end support 72 and has its ramrod 80 connected to movable support 76. Ram '79 functions to oscillate movable support 76 back and forth along guide rod 74 and 76 as indicated by arrows rected in a downward direction t oward'separatorpl'ate S. Separator plate 55 isrefle'ctive, so that whena-shirt t tor plate 55, and a source of light (not shownijis diwe claim:

l. A process of forming shirt cuffs or the like comprising moving a continuous web of lining material or cuff pattern part move's across separator plate 55 the photoelectric cell 70'wi ll detect no reflected light, and when a gap between adjacent ones of the shirt cuff pattern parts is detected by the photoelectric cell, the control circuitry of the system (not shown) causes clutch brake motor 60 to terminate its rotation of drive roller 61, thus terminating the feeding movement of the connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs to cutter 64, and shifts a solenoid valve to actuate pneumatic ram 79 to move movable support 76 across the path of web 10. The disc cutter 78 walks or rolls on bearing plate 82 and cuts or crushes the material in its path. The disc cutter will cut straight across the web of material 10 at the trailing end of a pattern part. When the disc cutter reaches the opposite side of the path, its movement terminates and the control system is ready to recycle.

A second photoelectric cell 84 is positioned vertically above work table 52 on the other side of cutter 64 from the on-coming connected series of partially completed cuffs, and a source of light (not shown) is arranged to reflect from the surface of work table 52 into the photoelectric cell 84. When a partially completed cuff is present on work table 52 below photoelectric cell 84, no reflection is detected by the photoelectric cell. Photoelectric cell 84 is connected in the circuitry in a manner so as to prevent the control system from being reactivated when no reflected light is detected by the photoelectric cell, or when the leading partially completed cuff has been cut from its series and remains on the work table 52. When the worker at the second work station retrieves the separated partially completed cuff from the work table 52, photoelectric cell 84 will detect the light reflected from the work table 52 and will allow the cutter-indexer 50 to recycle.

Again, when the photoelectric cell 70 detects the trailing end of another pattern part moving over the separator plate 55, the movement of the pattern part is interrupted and pneumatic ram 79 is again actuated, but the ram moves movable support 76 and disc cutter 78 in the opposite direction back across the path of web 10, causing the web to again to cut adjacent the trailing end of the pattern path. Thus, disc cutter 78 moves in opposite directions of alternate cuts of the web.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that the cutter indexer functions only on a demand basis, when the cut-away or separated partially completed cuff has been removed from the vicinity of the cutter. The cycle time of the cutter-indexer has been arranged to supply a separated partially completed cuff to the worker at a rate faster than the rate of operation of the subsequent trimming and sewing machine. Thus, the worker will always have a single partially completed cuff waiting to be retrieved for subsequent processing.

While this invention has been described in detail, with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in the appended claims.

"the like along a path through a sewing machine at a first work station, placing panels of cuff material on the web of lining material spaced along the length of the web of lining material with an edge portion of the panels of cuff material overlying an edge of the lining material before the web of lining material is moved through the sewing machine and moving the panels of cuff material with the continuous web of lining material toward the sewing machine, folding the overlying edge portion of each of the panels of cuff material about the edge of the web of lining material as the web of lining material and panels of cuff material move toward the sewing machine, sewing through the folds of the panels of cuff material and the web of lining material to forma connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies, accumulating a supply of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies from the sewing machine, transferring the accumulated supply of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies to a second work station, moving the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies along its length from its accumulated supply to a fabric cutter, stopping the movement of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies in response to the movement of a leading panel of cuff material moving past a predetermined position and cutting the lining material behind the leading panel to separate the leading partially completed cuff assembly from the rest of the series of partially completed cuff assemblies, removing the separated partially completed cuff assembly from the series of partially completed cuff assemblies, and beginning the movement of the rest of the connected series of cuff assemblies toward the fabric cutter in response to the removal of the separated partially completed cuff as sembly from the series of partially completed cuff assemblies.

2. The process of claim 1 and wherein the step of moving the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies along its length from its accumulated supply to a fabric cutter comprises the steps of simultaneously moving the web of lining material beneath a reflective plate while moving the panels of cuff material over the reflective plate, and wherein the steps of stopping the movement of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies and cutting the lining material behind the leading panel comprise detecting the movement of an edge portion of each panel of cuff material as it moves over the reflective plate, terminating the movement of the series of partially completed cuff assemblies in response to the detection of an edge portion of a panel of cuff material, and cutting the lining material at the detected edge portion.

3. The process of claim 1 and wherein the step of cutting the lining material comprises the cycle of rolling a disc cutter against a bearing plate from one side of the path of the series of partially completed cuff assemblies in a first direction across the path to the other side of the path.

4. The process of claim 1 and wherein the step of moving the panels of cuff material with the continuous web of lining material toward the sewing machine comprises engaging the upper surfaces of the panels of cuff material and the web of lining material with the lower flight of a continuous conveyor belt and moving the lower flight of the continuous conveyor belt toward the sewing machine.

5. A process of forming shirt cuffs or the like comprising the steps of moving a web of cuff lining material or the like in a first direction along its length toward a sewing machine at a first work station, placing cuff panel pattern parts on the web of cuff lining material as the web of lining material moves toward the sewing machine with one edge portion of each of the cuff panel pattern parts overlying the web of lining material and with the cuff panel pattern parts being spaced from one another along the length of the web of cuff lining material, folding the overlying edge portion of each of the cuff panel pattern parts about an edge of the web of the cuff lining material as the web of lining material moves toward the sewing machine, sewing through the web of cuff lining material and the folded portion of the cuff panel pattern parts to form a connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs, accumulating the series of partially completed shirt cuffs moved through the sewing machine on a reel, transferring the reel to a sec- 0nd work station, moving the series of partially completed shirt cuffs from its reel toward a cutting station, stopping the movement of the series of partially completed shirt cuffs and severing the web of cuff lining material adjacent one edge of each cuff panel pattern part to separate the partially completed shirt cuffs from the series of partially completed shirt cuffs and leave a short length of cuff lining material extending from one edge of at least some of the partially completed shirt cuffs.

6. The process of claim 5 and wherein the step of severing the web of lining material between the precut pattern parts of cuff panel material comprises moving the web of cuff lining material on one side of a reflective surface and moving the cuff panel pattern parts on the opposite side of the reflective surface as the partially completed shirt cuffs move toward the cutting station, detecting the movement of a cuff panel pattern part across the reflective surface, and cutting the web of lining material in response to the detection. 

1. A process of forming shirt cuffs or the like comprising moving a continuous web of lining material or the like along a path through a sewing machine at a first work station, placing panels of cuff material on the web of lining material spaced along the length of the web of lining material with an edge portion of the panels of cuff material overlying an edge of the lining material before the web of lining material is moved through the sewing machine and moving the panels of cuff material with the continuous web of lining material toward the sewing machine, folding the overlying edge portion of each of the panels of cuff material about the edge of the web of lining material as the web of lining material and panels of cuff material move toward the sewing machine, sewing through the folds of the panels of cuff material and the web of lining material to form a connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies, accumulating a supply of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies from the sewing machine, transferring the accumulated supply of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies to a second work station, moving the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies alonG its length from its accumulated supply to a fabric cutter, stopping the movement of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies in response to the movement of a leading panel of cuff material moving past a predetermined position and cutting the lining material behind the leading panel to separate the leading partially completed cuff assembly from the rest of the series of partially completed cuff assemblies, removing the separated partially completed cuff assembly from the series of partially completed cuff assemblies, and beginning the movement of the rest of the connected series of cuff assemblies toward the fabric cutter in response to the removal of the separated partially completed cuff assembly from the series of partially completed cuff assemblies.
 2. The process of claim 1 and wherein the step of moving the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies along its length from its accumulated supply to a fabric cutter comprises the steps of simultaneously moving the web of lining material beneath a reflective plate while moving the panels of cuff material over the reflective plate, and wherein the steps of stopping the movement of the connected series of partially completed cuff assemblies and cutting the lining material behind the leading panel comprise detecting the movement of an edge portion of each panel of cuff material as it moves over the reflective plate, terminating the movement of the series of partially completed cuff assemblies in response to the detection of an edge portion of a panel of cuff material, and cutting the lining material at the detected edge portion.
 3. The process of claim 1 and wherein the step of cutting the lining material comprises the cycle of rolling a disc cutter against a bearing plate from one side of the path of the series of partially completed cuff assemblies in a first direction across the path to the other side of the path.
 4. The process of claim 1 and wherein the step of moving the panels of cuff material with the continuous web of lining material toward the sewing machine comprises engaging the upper surfaces of the panels of cuff material and the web of lining material with the lower flight of a continuous conveyor belt and moving the lower flight of the continuous conveyor belt toward the sewing machine.
 5. A process of forming shirt cuffs or the like comprising the steps of moving a web of cuff lining material or the like in a first direction along its length toward a sewing machine at a first work station, placing cuff panel pattern parts on the web of cuff lining material as the web of lining material moves toward the sewing machine with one edge portion of each of the cuff panel pattern parts overlying the web of lining material and with the cuff panel pattern parts being spaced from one another along the length of the web of cuff lining material, folding the overlying edge portion of each of the cuff panel pattern parts about an edge of the web of the cuff lining material as the web of lining material moves toward the sewing machine, sewing through the web of cuff lining material and the folded portion of the cuff panel pattern parts to form a connected series of partially completed shirt cuffs, accumulating the series of partially completed shirt cuffs moved through the sewing machine on a reel, transferring the reel to a second work station, moving the series of partially completed shirt cuffs from its reel toward a cutting station, stopping the movement of the series of partially completed shirt cuffs and severing the web of cuff lining material adjacent one edge of each cuff panel pattern part to separate the partially completed shirt cuffs from the series of partially completed shirt cuffs and leave a short length of cuff lining material extending from one edge of at least some of the partially completed shirt cuffs.
 6. The process of claim 5 and wherein the step of severing the web of lining material between the precut pattern parts of cuff panel material comprises movinG the web of cuff lining material on one side of a reflective surface and moving the cuff panel pattern parts on the opposite side of the reflective surface as the partially completed shirt cuffs move toward the cutting station, detecting the movement of a cuff panel pattern part across the reflective surface, and cutting the web of lining material in response to the detection. 